On [Digital Experience]: Write-up

Last Thursday we launched the first talk of our five part talk series: On [Digital Experience]. We were treated to fascinating insights by all three speakers on the subject of digital experience and the intersection between art, design and technology.

Ross Phillips kicked off the night introducing us to a range of projects that seek to “give the audience a chance to be creative” through interactive elements. Ross stressed that the context and physical environment plays a key factor in how people respond to his work. Videogrid, a 5×5 grid allows you to record 4×1 second videos, offering the viewer an open canvas to do what they want; the work becomes a nice piece of narrative. However, the same project exhibited in different spaces, has produced extremely surprisingly varied behavior and reactions. Projects such as Mirror Mirror installed at Topshop, were provocative in that they examined new contexts for art to be exhibited, and challenged how retail space is perceived and used.

Stewart Smith charmed us with four playful projects that illustrate the interrelationship between art, design and coding (he dubs it the bermuda triangle). In contrast to Ross’ public scale work, Stewart said his work was primarily viewed in a domestic / private context, often as a solitary experience which blurred the boundary about what art is; he commented that digital work and in fact all art is only considered “art” when you present it that way, and use the right language to convince people. His explorations into digital artwork longevity were particularly fascinating, citing a project which merged hi-tech and lo-tech media and demonstrated 30yrs of software compatibility between the Ipad and apple 2 (a million times slower than the Ipad!).

It was fascinating to hear Daniel Brown talk about his projects, and how his background had informed his work. His experience of working in the digital realm was marked by personal experiences; he sustained an injury leaving him disabled but due to the new direction / generation of aesthetics, he is still able to work as he creates imagery through code rather than by hand. Daniel’s work experiments with aesthetics and beauty, offering shifting perceptions / variations of how things appear through manipulation of colour, image and design.

The evening ended with a group discussion where we heard about each of their ideas on open-source technology, and the boundaries between sharing and copying. They all seemed to agree that we’re in a transition period, that younger generations will teach older digital artists a lot, and education will become increasingly reliant on digital experience, learning through play and interaction. We were left to consider that as we become evermore exposed to technology in our day to day lives, this will no doubt change how we consume and behave in physical environments.

Thank you to everyone that came along. The atmosphere was great, the free drinks flowed and we didn’t want it to end.

Tickets for On [Motivation] next Tuesday 28th June have sold out, but we will be launching On [Innovation & Ownership] next week so make sure you don’t miss out!

Rather ironically we had to postpone On [Activism], due to the madness of events – the wide-scale rioting – in August. So the talk took place last night and although it had been a while since we were at Red Bull Studios (for On [Narrative]), it felt like a happy home-coming. And this was only improved by our speakers, Francesca Gavin, Lucienne Roberts and Ken Garland providing blinding talks and some food for thought.
Lucienne Roberts opened the discussion by introducing two ways to think about graphic design and activism (or design activism as it’s known). According to Lucienne, upper case ‘A’ctivism graphic design presents weighty, hard-hitting or political subject matter in a confrontational, provocative way whereas lower case ‘a’ design tends to be less polemic and engage people in a more passive/subtle way. She believes the two approaches are both valuable but appropriate in different settings as she illustrated with her work and that of others. Her passion for graphic design, and belief in the “power of design” to inform, and bring about change was very heartfelt; she continues to reject the notion that the industry should be inward looking, but rather it must engage with the world on many levels.

On [Activism] synopses

Advertising virtuoso Kate Stanners (Saatchi & Saatchi) shared the wealth of experience she has gained over her prolific career, beginning with her stories of working on various campaigns for Cadbury’s Flake – the original campaign was created by her father, himself an advertising top-dog in his day. In advertising you are often presented with dry, frustrating problems, she conceded. The key is finding ways to make it interesting to people, which is not necessarily in-keeping with what the clients think is interesting! Visual storytelling helps to engage people – it’s unifying regardless of language barriers and cultural nuances.

For yesterday’s talk On [Narrative] we were joined by Mikey Please, Maria Smith (of Studio Weave) and Kate Stanners, Saatchi & Saatchi’s executive creative director. Each of them works in remarkably different disciplines, so it was fascinating to hear them discuss how narrative informs their practices across animation, architecture and advertising.
Mikey Please opened with his beautiful BAFTA winning animation The Eagleman Stag. Listening to him explain how he crafted the story left us slightly in awe (he is seriously intelligent and articulate).

If like us you were left wanting more after the last talk, you don’t have long to wait. The fourth event On [Narrative] is taking place on 26th July. Join us for another riveting evening with BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Mikey Please, art and architectural design practice Studio Weave, and Saatchi & Saatchi’s Executive Creative Director Kate Stanners, exploring how stories shape and inform their work. h3. On [Narrative] synopses

We’re still buzzing from yesterday’s talk, On [Innovation & Ownership], during which we were challenged by the creative minds of Holly Wales, Bobby Evans, Sebastien Noel (from Troika) and George Hardie. Revealing how their ideas are born, and citing important influences on their work, all four speakers discussed what innovation and ownership of an idea means to them.Holly Wales was joined by Telegramme’s Bobby Evans, fellow co-founder of OPEN studio. OPEN started in June 2010 as a shared studio space to encourage dialogue between commercial illustrators who would normally work alone, detached from other processes in the industry. Conceived from a desire to create an environment they felt “had been lost since leaving art college,” and perhaps something they hadn’t even fully experienced there. Due to the collaborative environment and in-house facilities, we heard how OPEN has allowed them to re-imagine the role and scope of an illustrator. They emphasised the importance of the physical space for sharing ideas, self-initiating projects and controlling their output, as well as learning from creatives working in other disciplines. It was exciting hearing Holly and Bobby talk about OPEN and the future possibilities: as a constantly evolving, expanding structure that discourages stasis, keeping them open to new ideas.